Air bleed valve



March 14, 1961 A. LEVIN AIR BLEED VALVE Filed Jan. 2, 1959 INVENTOR.fllexander Levin ATTORNEY United States Patent Q AIR BLEED VALVEAlexander Levin, Framingham, Mass., assignor to the United States ofAmerica as represented by the Secretary of the Army Filed Jan. 2, 1959,Ser. No. 784,827

Claims. (Cl. 158-'36.'6)

(Granted under Title 35, US. Code (1952), sec. 266) The inventiondescribed herein, if patented, may be manufactured and used by or forthe Government for governmental purposes, without the payment to me ofany royalty thereon.

The present invention relates to air bleed valves and more particularlyto a' valve for bleeding air or other gases from a liquid conveying lineand for also trapping a small quantity of liquid from the line in areadily accessible trap.

Most of the liquid fuel burners and heaters used by the Armed Forces inthe field are fed liquid fuel by gravity from a five-gallon can of thetype commonly known as jerry cans. Gravity feed of the liquid fuel isobtained by mounting the fuel can or reservoir on any suitable structureelevated from the level of the burner or heater. When a can becomesempty, it is replaced with a full can. During the course of thisreplacement, it is impossible to prevent a head of air from beingtrapped in the fuel conveying line between its inlet and outlet ends.This may lead to ditficulties in starting the heater or burner. Thepresent invention obviates these difliculties by providing means forbleeding this air fromthe system before an attempt is made to start theheater and to trap a small quantity of the fuel sufficient to soak asmall torch of the type commonly used in starting these gravity feedburners.

Accordingly an object of the invention is to provide a new and improveddevice for bleeding air from a liquid conveying line.

Another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved devicefor bleeding air from a liquid conveying line which includes a trapoutside the line to trap a small quantity or sample of the liquid beingconveyed.

Another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved devicefor bleeding air from the fuel line of a gravity feed burner whichincludes means for trapping. a quantity of the liquid fuel sufficient tosoak a torch for starting the burner.

A more general object of the invention is to provide a new and improvedmechanism to facilitate the starting of gravity feed liquid fuel burnerswhich is simple and sturdy in construction, inexpensive to manufactureand easy to operate and maintain.

These and other objects,.advantages, and capabilities of the inventionwill become apparent from the following description wherein reference ishad to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is a more or less diagrammatic view of a gravity feed liquid fuelburning heater having a gravity feed liquid fuel supply system embodyingthe improved air bleed and liquid fuel trapping mechanism of the presentinvention;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the burner head for the in its entiretyby the number 24 in Fig. 1.

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Fig. 4 is a transverse vertical sectional View taken on the plane of theline 44 on Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a view partly in horizontal section and partly in top planshowing the top wall of a portionof the improved mechanism of thepresent invention.

In Fig. 1 there is shown a typical liquid fuel burning heatinginstallation in which the present invention is particularly useful. Thisinstallation comprises a housing 10 forming a combustion and heatradiating chamber, a burner 12 for vaporizing liquid fuel and initiatingcom- 'bustion thereof and a reservoir 14 for supplying liquid fuel tothe burner. The heater, including the housing 10 and burner 12, may hadknown construction, that shown herein being of the type disclosed inUnited States Patent 2,721,546. Since the heater is fully described inthat patent, a further description thereof in this specification isbelieved to be unnecessary. These heaters were originally designedparticularly for use by the Armed Forces in the field, but they are alsosuitable for use by campers, woodsmen, or in other outdoor pursuits.

The fuel reservoir 14 shown in the drawings preferably comprises aS-gallon can of the type commonly known as a jerry can. These cans haveheretofore been widely used by the Armed Forces for transporting andstoring liquids including liquid fuel. The burner 12 is fed with liquidfuel from the reservoir 14 by a fuel supply system including an adapter16 which is adapted to be received in the filling and discharge openingwith which "jerry cans are provided in fluid-tight relation thereto..This adapter is of conventional construction and is connected to asuitable fuel conveying conduit such as a rubber or synthetic rubberhose l8 through a drip interceptor 211 preferably of the type describedand claimed in United States Patent 2,684,114.

At its outlet end, rubber hose 18 is connected bysuitable coupling means22 to the inlet end of the improved air bleed valve of the presentinvention which is indicated The outlet end of this air bleed valve isconnected by a coupling member 26 to the inlet side of a burner controlvalve 28 which has an outlet connected to the inlet to the burner 12 bysuitable coupling elements including a straight section of pipe 30,elbows 32 and 34 and coupling members 36 and 38. Burner control valve 28may be a conventional needle valve of the drip type having a hand u knob40 for adjusting the setting of the needle to control heater disclosedin Fig. 1 showing the improved mechaon the plane of theline 3-3 on Fig.4.

the rate at which liquid fuel is allowed to pass to the .burner 12 andcompletely to close down. the flow of which fuel drips from the needlein the control valve can be observed.

Referring to Figs. 3 to 5, it will be seen that the improved air bleedvalve of the present invention comprises a generally T-shaped elementand a valve member 46 including a threaded stem 48 and a combined handknob and cup-like reservoir 50. The T-shaped element 44 comprises atubular portion 52 disposed upon a horizontal axis when the parts are inoperative position'as indicated in Figs. 1 and 3 and a tubular leg 54depending from the horizontal tubular portion 52 intermediate the endsthereof. A horizontally extending passageway 56 is thus defined by thehorizontally extending tubular portion 52 of the T for conveying liquidfrom the outlet end of the hose 18 to the inlet side of the controlvalve 28 by virtue of the connection between these .parts as previouslydescribed. The passageway 56 is intersected by a bore 58 (Fig. 4)extending axially of the depending leg 54 and threaded to receive thethreaded stem 48 of the valve member 46. Valve stem 48 has a tapered tip60 for engaging a seat 62 adjacent to the upper or inner end of the bore58 to control communication from the horizontal passageway 56 to thebore 58, the valve stem 48 also having a longitudinally or axiallyextending groove 64 in itsouter periphery through whichfluid may escapefrom the horizontal passageway 56 when the valve tip 60 is unseated asby turning the hand knob 56 in a direction to retract the stem 48.

As best seen in Figs. 3 and 5, the hand knob 50 forming a part of thevalve member 46 'may be of-generally cylindrical cup-like construction.It has a bottom wall 66, an upstanding sidewall 68, and a top wall 70covering all but a narrow radially extending opening 72 therein havingthe contour shown in Fig. 5. The outer end of the stem 48 is welded orotherwise rigidly fixed to the center of the bottom wall 66 of thecup-shaped knob 50 so as toextend axially thereof and the inner end ofthe opening 72 in the top wall 70 is dimensioned to closely encompassthe depending leg 54 when the stem 48 is threaded into the bore 58 inthis leg. Preferably, the threaded connection between these parts is socalibrated that the opening 72 in the top wall 70 will be aligned withthe underside of the horizontal portion 52 of the T-shaped member 44when the stem has been turned up far enough to close the groove 64 tothe passage of fluid so that the horizontal portion of the T acts as acover for this opening. Preferably, the underside of the horizontalportion 52 of the T is flattened so that a better closure of the opening72 in the cap thus is obtained.

Lighting of vaporizing burners such as herein disclosed is facilitatedif a torch is available to initiate combustion in the burner. Anysuitable opening through which access may be had by a torch to theinterior of the burner may be used for this purpose. In the heater shownherein, an opening is provided for this purpose in the top closure inthe burner head. This opening is covered by a closure 74 (Figs. 1 and 2)during normal operation of the heater. Closure 74 may be releasablylocked in closed position by any suitable means. A suitable torch 76 forthe heater shown in Fig. 1 comprises an elongated wire handle 78 (Fig.2) having a quantity of wicking material 80 suitably fixed to one endthereof for absorbing a quantity of liquid fuel. Preferably, the torchis provided with a chain 82 to tether the same to the heater so that itwill not become lost in the field.

Briefly to describe the operation of the present invention, it will beassumed that the fuel supply system has been connected to a jerry can 14full of liquid fuel by means of the adapter 16 and that the jerry canhas been fixed in a position sufficiently elevated to produce thedesired head of fuel at the control valve 28. In switching the adapter16 from an empty to a full jerry can to connect the full can into thesystem a certain amount of air becomes trapped in the adapter and theportion of the fuel supply system immediately downstream of the adapter.This entrapped air tends to interfere with the uniform flow of fuel tothe burner, particularly during starting of the burner. In a heaterequipped with the present invention, this difiiculty is avoided byturning the valve member 46 far enough in an opening direction to openthe groove 64 in the stem 48 to the passageway 56 in the T-shaped member44. This will allow air in the fuel supply system to escape or beby-passed to the atmosphere. After the air has been bled from thesystem, liquid fuel will escape through this by-pass outlet and will betrapped in the cup-like knob 59. The wick 80 may be soaked in the liquidfuel thus collected in the cup-like knob 50 after which the knob isturned far enough to seat the tapered end 60 of the stem 48 upon theseat 62 and thus close by-pass groove 64.

It will thus be seen that a combined air bleed valve bers of the ArmedForces in the field. Another advantage of the invention is the fact thatit may be used in conjunction with any of the numerous gravity feedvaporizing type burners and not just the burner herein shown.

While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been shown anddescribed, it will be apparent that variations and modifications thereofmay be made without departing from the underlying principles of theinvention. It is desired, therefore, by the following claims, to includewithin the scope of the invention, all such variations and modificationsby which substantially the results of the invention may be obtainedthrough the use of substantially the same or equivalent means.

Iclaim:

1. An air bleed valve for a liquid conveying line comprising meansdefining a valve chamber adapted to be connected in said line and havinga by-pass outlet, a valve seat in said valve chamber, a valve to engagesaid seat and thereby control communication through said by-pass outletwithout impeding flow in said line, valve operating means including agenerally cup-shaped member located at a position to be manipulatedmanually for opening and closing said valve and to catch liquid escapingfrom said by-pass outlet when said valve is open and cooperatingstructure on the means defining said valve chamber and said cup-shapedmember for closing the latter against access to the interior thereofwhen the said cup-shaped member is moved into valveclosing position andto open the said cup-shaped member for access to the interior thereofwhen said cupshaped member is moved into valve-opening position.

2. An air bleed valve for a liquid conveying line comprising meansdefining a valve chamber adapted to be connected in said line and havingat least one flat downwardly facing area on the exterior thereof and aby-pass outlet, a valve seat in said valve chamber, a valve to engagesaid seat and thereby control communication through said by-pass outletwithout impeding flow in said line, valve operating means including agenerally cup-shaped member located at a position to be manipulatedmanually for opening and closing said valve and to catch liquid escapingfrom said by-pass outlet when said Valve is open and a cover on saidcup-shaped member having an opening therein of smaller size than thedownwardly facing area and located to be disposed in underlying relationto said flat downwardly facing area when said valve is closed so'as tobe covered by said area and to be fully exposed when said valve is openso that access may then be had to the interior of the cupshaped memberthrough said opening.

3. An air bleed valve for a liquid conveying line comprising a generallyT-shaped valve chamber including opposed branches and a depending stemto form a bypass outlet for said chamber, said branches each having afiat downwardly facing side, structure for controlling the discharge offluid through said by-pass outlet including a valve seat, a head toengage said seat and a valve stem threaded into said by-pass outlet forseating and unseating said head, means for operating said stem to seatand unseat said head including a generally cupshaped member fixed tosaid stem at a position to be manipulated manually and to catch liquiddischarged through said by-pass outlet, a cover on said cup-shapedmember having an opening therein of somewhat smaller size than thedownwardly facing side of said branches, said threaded stem beingcalibrated to bring the opening in said cup-shaped member immediatelybelow the downwardly facing side of one of said branches when said valveis in closed position so that the said opening is substantiallycompletely closed by the said branch.

4. A liquid fuel feeding system for a burner comprising a source ofliquid fuel elevated above the level of said burner, a line forgravitationally conveying liquid fuel from said source to said burner,an on-off valve in said line in close proximity to said burner, a valvein said line on the upstream side of said 0n-otf valve closely adjacentto the latter for bleeding air and liquid fuel from said line and meansfor trapping liquid fuel discharged by said air bleed valve after airhas been bled from the line, said means having an access opening throughwhich a torch may be dipped into the trapped liquid fuel to prepare thetorch for lighting the burner.

5. A liquid fuel feeding system for a burner comprising a source ofliquid fuel elevated above the level of said burner, a line forgravitationally conveying liquid fuel from said source, an on-ofi valvein close proximity to said burner, a generally T-shaped member includingopposed branches connected respectively to the downstream side of saidline and the upstream side of 'said on-off valve closely adjacent thelatter and a projecting stem to form a by-pass outlet for said branchesand 6 valve means to control the discharge through said bypass outletincluding a cup-like knob for manipulating said valve means and fortrapping liquid fuel discharged through said by-pass outlet after airhas been bled from the line, said cup-like knob having an access openingthrough which a torch may be dipped into the trapped liquid fuel toprepare the torch for lighting the burner.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

